Black Desert: More on the Daum Deal

MMOCulture had an interview with Brian Oh, Director of Overseas Business, in regards to Daum being the publisher for NA/EU. The whole article can be found here, but I'll copy/paste the parts that talked about the NA/EU client.

CB: Obviously the gaming community is in shock at the announcement of Korean giant Daum Communications being the publisher of Black Desert for North America and Europe. Could you tell me more about the deal?

Brian: I understand the shock of the community, but after much evaluation, we felt that the deal with Daum Communications is right, given how much support they have given us since the Korean deal was signed.

CB: Will there be any possible delays, given that Daum Communications is not an established company in the western market?

Brian: I am not sure what Daum will do, since I do not question their operations, but I do understand that Daum is looking to set up a new games business team and hiring veterans from the western region to operate the new games platform.

Daum recently merged with Kakao, Korea’s biggest mobile gaming platform as well (cinderboy note: I guess Brian is hinting that Daum has all the products to make sure the Western platform launches smoothly)

CB: Since Daum still needs time to set up a team, is there a concern that Black Desert will be pushed further backwards for a western launch?

Brian: Working with Daum, I know that they make decisions and work fast, hence there is no worry at the moment.

CB: How about translation? Is Black Desert being translated now internally?

Brian: We have a partially translated version for Chinese, and we are translating the game into English internally. We might get other companies to do part of the translations, but overall we are controlling the core translation.

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We have our 2nd ChinaJoy (China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference) interview. This time around 2P covers a lot of latest information regarding Black Desert's new contents in the third closed beta (CBT). The full interview can be found here, 3 pages worth, but I'll post the parts that talked about the NA/EU client as well as progress in general.

2P: The western players are very curious about the new classes. Are any of them going to be playable in the third CBT or in Korean OBT?

Pearl Abyss:During the third closed beta, players can test only the previous four classes. And in open beta, we are going to add new classes one by one.

2P: What's the development progress of Black Desert?

Pearl Abyss: Now we are polishing our game. Around this September, we will have CBT3 and right after that, around this November, we can expect an open beta in Korea. The specific dates of CBT3 and open beta are not finally decided, but we can tell you that we have almost completed about 80% of the game.

2P: The design concept of Tamer is very special, but this class still remains a mystery to us since its announcement at G-Star 2012. Would you introduce more about this new class to us here? Tamer has got a lot of fans already.

Pearl Abyss: A lot of things about Tamer have been changed. To be frank, there is not much to say about Tamer as the concept is different now and this class is still in development.

2P:What are the major focuses of CBT3?

Pearl Abyss:In the third closed beta, we will add some special contents like clothes dyeing and swimming contents. Besides, crafting and trading will be more polished.

2P:Why would you choose Daum as the publisher of Black Desert in North American & European market instead of a local publisher in the west?

Pearl Abyss: As you know, Daum is our Korean publisher. During the preparation for Korean service, they studied a lot of Black Desert. Besides, they have high understanding of Black Desert. We value their effort, knowledge and passion and we have very good impression on Daum.

On the other hand, they have already set up their own subsidiaries in NA & EU though they are small now. Daum has the passion to bring our title to NA & EU market and we think that we can cooperate with Daum smoothly because of their great passion and ability to operate Black Desert.

We really respect their capabilities and we believe that they will be successful in operating Black Desert in NA & EU.

2P:I heard that Pearl Abyss has translated almost 50% of the game contents into English. Is that true? Who will take the responsibility of localization of Black Desert in the west?

Pearl Abyss:It's true that we started to translate our text into English. But not that much, not up to 50%. More and more contents will be added and some will be changed. We are very careful not to translate the contents into English very fast. After fixing all the texts, we will translate them all.

We have discussed with our publisher. The developer is probably who understands the context best. We want to minimize the errors and mistakes in translating the texts into English. So we want to translate the texts by ourselves. We will translate our texts into English first and our publisher will then review it. The final English version of Black Desert will be coming from our publisher.

2P: Is there an estimated date of CBT for Black Desert's North American and European version?

Pearl Abyss: We have to discuss this with our publisher first. We have our own ETA, but we haven't discussed this with our publisher.

2P: Many western players can't wait to sign up for a western beta. When is it going to have an English official site?

Pearl Abyss:We will probably have a meeting with Daum during ChinaJoy and I will ask them. Haha.

2P: The graphics of Black Desert is pretty impressive. When do you think we can see this game on consoles?

Pearl Abyss: We are very interested in porting Black Desert to consoles. At E3, we have met companies like Microsoft and Sony and started the initial discussion. If it is possible, we really want to do it.

At the end of our interview, Cheng told us that character costumes will be added in the third CBT. The Korean version of Black Desert will be free-to-play while the payment mode for the western version is not yet decided.

Q: Our readers are very eager to play Black Desert, could you tell us when will Black Desert come to these enthusiastic players? Will there be anything new in Black Desert NA/EU for our players? What're the differences between NA/EU server and Korea server?

Brian: About the progress of NA/EU server, we can tell you that the translation and localization of Black Desert NA/EU is underway. Korean sever has just finished CBT2 and will kick off CBT3 in September and Open Beta in November. Then we will begin the alpha and closed betas for NA/EU server after that, we plan to start Black Desert NA/EU CBT1 in early 2015. Our visit to ChinaJoy is exactly aimed for business with top Chinese publishers. So NA/EU server's launch schedule will definitely be earlier than the CN server.

Black Desert is based on medieval Europe, and we think it matches NA/EU players' culture. And contents of Black Desert NA/EU won't be altered much. But we'll alter it based on NA/EU players' suggestions and demands.

I don't know but somehow, the concept of gender class lock is a total turnoff for me. I/we grew up under the assumption that male and female can do whatever they chose (sure there are differences based on genre, but no hard limitation..).

Originally posted by Holyavenger1I don't know but somehow, the concept of gender class lock is a total turnoff for me. I/we grew up under the assumption that male and female can do whatever they chose (sure there are differences based on genre, but no hard limitation..).I don't know. Bugs me a lot for some reason.

Yeah I don't like gender locks a whole lot. I think they might work out a system where access will be given to both genders; something like wizard for males and sorceress for females. I know I read it somewhere...

Originally posted by Holyavenger1I don't know but somehow, the concept of gender class lock is a total turnoff for me. I/we grew up under the assumption that male and female can do whatever they chose (sure there are differences based on genre, but no hard limitation..).I don't know. Bugs me a lot for some reason.

LOL, the only reason you don't like gender lock is because you might have to play a guy... and no one cares to look at a guys butt all day.

Alex: Hello Brian it’s nice seeing you! A lot has happened since we met last year; congratulations on your recently announced cooperation with Daum Communications, we definitely welcome that decision, seeing how well your relationship with them is progressing in regard to the Korean release of Black Desert Online. It’s also a pleasure to meet you in person, Park Yoo Jin. How are both of you finding things at Gamescom?

Brian Oh: Hi Alex, it’s good to see you too. As you probably know, we’ve been spending the past year working hard on improving and polishing Black Desert Online. We’ve also had a pleasant surprise a few days ago back in Korea, when your colleague Alex “Ike” visited us in our office.

Alex: Let me begin with a question, our community is dying for to know; you’ve mentioned before, that while there’s Factions in Black Desert Online the Player-interaction (PvP) will revolve around Guild-warfare. In regard to this, do you have Plans on further expanding the Player experience in connection to Guilds via Guild-quests? If yes, can you tell us a bit about it?

Brian Oh: Yes we do have Plans for Quests specifically aimed towards Guilds, Black Desert Online is all about Player-Interaction and we feel that content promoting this kind of behavior will be of benefit to both the Community, but also the Game itself.

Alex: Do the notorious “guild skills” fall under this category?

Brian Oh: Yes, Guild Skills will play an important role around the Guild Systems; they will enable Guilds to advance on essential aspects according to their role (fighting/crafting).

Alex: Is there any possibility we’ll see an “Alliance System”?

Brian Oh: No, at least not at the beginning. The very notion of Guilds vs. Guilds is intrigue. We feel, that this allow for in-depth player interaction, as they won’t be bound by a system limiting them, so solidarity and betrayal will be sitting next to each other. Of course, depending on future feedback, we’ll might reevaluate our concept.

Alex: While being on the PvP aspect of Black Desert Online, we’ve known for long, that there will be Siege Warfare implemented to the Game. Have you made thoughts about friendly fire during such an event?

Brian Oh: Since it’d be very difficult for Players to maintain their focus during a Castle-Siege, we think that friendly fire wouldn’t be a good idea, as such it won’t be present in the game.

Alex: Siege-Warfare is going to be a central aspect of the Game and so far we know that there will be 3 Castles; do you plan expanding on the aspect of Castles & Siege warfare in general?

Park Yoo Jin: You’re correct, there’s 3 Castles currently in Black Desert Online, but around the area in which these Castles are being located, Players will be able to fight for various smaller Command Centers, which control a specific area within their range. More to the point, these Command Centers will be able to be built and then later on be taken over by Players. Controlling these Command Centers will be an essential part towards preparing for a Castle Siege.

Alex: Can you describe to our community the main incentives for fighting over a Castle?

Park Yoo Jin: The main point to take a Castle is the ability to accumulate tax money, but we’re also thinking including other types of resources.

Alex: Is there any plans on revising the PK (Player Killing) system for the 3rd Closed Beta?

Park Yoo Jin: The PK System that was present in the 2nd Closed Beta was more or less working smoothly, so it won’t be that different during the 3rd Closed Beta Test. We’d rather shift our attention toward the balancing of the different Classes.

Alex: Naval Combat seems to be becoming a trend and there’s just recently been information, that Black Desert Online will feature naval transportation and combat.

Park Yoo Jin: Yes naval transportation & combat will be present in Black Desert Online. Players will be able to control boats and ships and depending on the kind of naval unit, there will be the possibility to board it with more than one person.

Alex: There’s been since the very beginning several trailers highlighting Mounted-Combat; what can Players expect from it?

Brian Oh: In order to for a Player to experience Mounted-Combat, they need to own a horse. There will be some special skills reserved for this kind of combat, but in general, skills take more time to be executed while mounted and not all of them are usable. In that sense, foot combat is the most effective form of fighting.

Alex: During CBT2 we experimented to see in what regard the weather affects skills, but we only found out, that the order in which the skills are being used affects the animation speed, could you shed more light into this?

Brian Oh: The weather itself won’t have any effect on the speed of skill animations, but on the damage dealt. For example fighting while it’s raining has as a result the reduction of damage dealt.

Alex: Our community at black-desert.com includes a somewhat large minority of Roleplayers. They were concerned about the lack of ingame emotes. Can we expect something like that in the future?

Park Yoo Jin: We are fully aware, that an open sandbox MMORPG such as Black Desert Online will provide players due to its player-focused features and open world a hub to enjoy it in many ways. We’re happy, that the western audience loves our game and we’ll surely go on and include features such as emotes ingame to provide them with a more complete experience and immersion. In addition, you’ll be able to enjoy several of the new cutscenes that we’ve added to the game for the upcoming Closed Beta Test.

Alex: There was a change between the 1st Closed Beta Test and the 2nd Closed Beta Test concerning the Housing System, what can we expect it to eventually look like?

Brian Oh: During the 1st Closed Beta Test the housing System was non-instanced, but we felt, that it was accompanied by other factors, which wouldn’t contribute to a positive experience for the majority of Players, as houses would be very limited. Therefore in the 2nd Closed Beta we experimented with instanced housing that requires the players to meet very specific criteria. For the 3rd Closed Beta Test we’ll continue with a hybrid system; this means normal housing will be instanced, while special houses such as Guild Halls will be non-instanced.

Alex: While playing Black Desert Online during the 2nd Closed Beta, we noticed, that there was no feature allowing for skill points to be reset. Can we expect it to be implemented in the future?

Brian Oh: Resetting skill points has been used in many games for a long period of time, so we don’t see any issue why we shouldn’t include it in the future.

Alex: Last, let me drop the notorious “L-Bomb” i.e Localization. I’ve featured it recently in one of my articles; players start to panic the very moment they hear this word, because they haven’t had a good experience with it in the past. Park Yoo Jin you’re representing today Daum Communications, what can you tell us about your plans?

Park Yoo Jin: Thank you Alex for giving me this opportunity to express myself on the subject of Localization. To us, as well as Pearl Abyss, it’s important, that we preserve the core assets of the game, so you can be certain, we won’t change anything that constitutes the very essence of Black Desert Online. In fact and Brian can confirm it (Brian Oh agreed with a nod), Black Desert Online may be more “hardcore” in the future. We’ve accumulated a lot of feedback from our tests so far and it is evident, that the community likes the notion of a more “hardcore” orientation. We’ll keep monitoring the direction the Game goes in line with the feedback we’ll receive, but the western community can be certain, that we won’t water down their game-experience.

Alex: And when can we expect our beloved game to be available to the north American and European players?

Park Yoo Jin: We’re currently doing a lot of preparations setting up our western office, even though we’d like to see the Game released by the end of 2015, we feel, that early 2016 is a more realistic estimation.

Alex: Is there something else, we can look forward to in the next CBT?

Brian Oh: We’ll feature in CBT3 the Dye System, where Players will be able to customize their Armour on 3 different levels, we’ll include swimming and limited diving and the biggest addition is going to be the introduction of a pet system, which will allow Players to feature various animals as companions.

Alex: Thank you both for this very informative conversation, as well as taking your time to share your thoughts and plans with our beloved community; In the name of black-desert.com I wish you all the best for the future and look forward to meeting you again!

Brian Oh: I want to thank you, too Alex. It is also for us something special to witness the joy and excitement our Game brings to others and I have to admit, that we think highly of black-desert.com. You are so far the largest English-speaking Community and the the passion you show for everything around Black Desert Online is amazing and also manifested by the quite frequent contact we’ve had twice here at Gamescom and also in our office in Korea.

Park Yoo Jin: Alex please relay my thanks to all of the black-desert.com Community! Once we’ve set up our western office, you can count on further support.